


KaBloom

by orphan_account



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Language of Flowers, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-10-08
Packaged: 2018-07-27 04:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7604014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aaron didn't know, how he ended up agreeing to run his sister's flower shop for a whole week, but he regretted it already. However he didn't expect a stranger to storm into the shop angrily and demand:<br/>“How do I passive-aggressively say fuck you in flower?”<br/>His name was Alexander Hamilton.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sunday

**Author's Note:**

> Fic's based on this prompt: http://fanficy-prompts.tumblr.com/post/145995837291/flower-shop-au  
> But then the story turned it's way, because writing a one-shot is something much more difficult, than just letting the story take the lead.  
> My first Hamburr thing, enjoy!

****Aaron didn't know, how he ended up agreeing to run his sister's flower shop for a whole week, but he regretted it already. On Sunday morning, just after Aaron opened the store's main door, the alarm went off for no reason. Then he broke two fancy vases. While he was cleaning after the fatal incident, his first clients showed up and were genuinely disappointed that the lovely lady, who owned the shop, was absent and some random guy had to help them pick flowers.

He did whatever he could to advise them a proper choice, but to be honest, he just followed his sister's basic instructions. _Oh, you'll do just fine. You saw me making bouquets lots of times, just do the same. There are some guidebooks in the back. Normally I sell them or give them away as presents, but you can learn from it as well. I'll be back soon. Love you!_

It was the last thing he heard from her before her flight. Then she messaged him to tell him where the spare set of keys was hidden and wished him good luck.

Aaron took some spray to make the flowers at the window shinier and wished himself good luck as well, so he won't kill himself balancing between vases and nice, porcelain figures. Dying wasn't on his to do list just yet. He had many things on his schedule after Sally's return, but he succeed at pushing all of the deadlines. If he ended up dead, because of this damned flower shop, he would haunt Sally for the rest of her days and make her attend lots of boring, lawyer meetings just for the sake of revenge.

Flowers by the windows looked well enough, the alarm wasn't ringing and more people came by, so Aaron could risk a statement that an hour in he was managing just fine.

Until of course he wasn't any more.

But he had good intentions. He looked at the back of the store for previously mentioned guidebooks and along with them he found some additions for the bouquets. He took couple of different ribbons and glitter in hope that even if he couldn't make the flowers seem as nice as his sister usually did, at least everything would be colourful and shiny, so people won't have any pretensions.

Next client happened to be a little girl, so the decision was on point. She couldn't be more than eleven, but she looked more confident in the store than he would ever be.

Aaron waited patiently until the girl turned in his direction with a curious look on her face.

“Aren't you supposed to ask me, what I want to buy, sir?”

“Oh.” Sure, that sounded reasonable. Shame he didn't get to this conclusion on his own.

All of the sudden being a lawyer seemed a lot easier than selling flowers. At least all of the knowledge from Princeton could be useful if some dissatisfied client began to threaten him. Would it count as professional experience?

“Well, how can I help you?” He asked after clearing his throat.

The girl smiled at him widely.

“I need a bouquet,” she announced.

“That much I figured,” Aaron answered with a small smile as well.

He always liked the way kids interacted with the world. Aaron found the little girl's company much more pleasant than talking with adults, who were constantly, silently judging him during the last hour. Kids were sincere and sometimes nice enough for it to be adorable. That girl was definitely one of those.

“What is the occasion?” He added after a second.

“End of the school year,” she explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “My mum said it would be nice to buy my teacher some flowers.”

Sometimes Aaron forgot, how fast the time flew. But he wasn't paying any special attention to the beginning of summer since he graduated. Then all the months blend in and only seemed different during several holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Beside it, there was work and multiple different cases to focus on, no wonder he lost the track of time.

“All right. Which ones?”

“I think roses. Pink or white.”

“Why not both?” Aaron suggested, heading towards roses section. They had all kinds of roses, even though red was the most common colour amongst them. Burr always thought they were the prettiest, the most elegant. It wasn't exactly original, but he didn't study a real florist after all.

He took five roses of each colour and brought them behind the counter. He striped flowers from their leaves for them not to rotten quickly. Then he turned around to gather more different addictions to make the bouquet richer. That way it looked somewhat better, especially when the roses weren't the only kind of flower used in the mix.

Aaron picked pink ribbon, which was an obvious choice with the previously mentioned colours. And it seemed like the girl preferred it as well, not only because of the choice of flowers, but her outfit was based on it too.

When Aaron was pretty much finished with his work, he sprayed the roses and was about to give the bouquet to his client, but the girl gasped.

“You have glitter!” She nearly shouted and Aaron thought for a second that he will drop the flowers, but fortunately he caught them on time. “Oh, sorry,” she said with an apologetic look. “Can I have some glitter on my roses?”

Burr nodded and took a jar of glitter. He had three of them. One was blue, the other ones were red and white. The last one would look good with it, he guessed, so it was the one he went for. The problem was that opening the jar was pretty tricky. He had to put the bouquet on the counter and focus on getting the foil removed.

Aaron turned it upside down for a second to pull the foil one last time and of course it was the exact moment, when the jar opened, spilling all the glitter on him.

His young client laughed, but the fact that his clothes were ruined and his face probably looked like he just ran from the circus wasn't the best thing, which could happen to him. It was terrible. Aaron whined loudly, throwing his arms in the air, causing glitter rain all over the counter and the girl standing in front of it.

Just _perfect_.

He took the remaining glitter from the jar and put it on roses just to make the girl leave the shop and let him… Change? Did he even had any spare clothes?

She made an exited sound and took the flowers. After she handed him the money and left with a happy goodbye, he found himself at the back of the shop again, making his way through a pile of useless stuff in search for any clothes.

He actually found it, but he kind of regretted he did.

To the shop he came dressed in simple a button-up and skinny jeans. Usually it was the way he dressed. Of course he had lots of suits for court trails and then many sweaters for weekends, when he didn't have to leave the house.

Couple of t-shirts he never used were in the highest drawer in his apartment's closet, but he didn't even pretend to ever look for anything there. The clothes he found in the shop were so much worse he couldn't help but groan at the sight of them.

Green shirt was slightly oversized with a stupid pun on it. It said “I'm a _lily_ bit naughty sometimes” and the words were surrounded by colourful lilies. Then there were red shorts with a similar pattern. It had to fucking match. Where would anyone even buy something that ugly? Aaron was going to kill Sally for it, even if she didn't plan it.

But at least he could wash his own clothes and wait for it to dry. That way he would only humiliate himself inside the flower shop. How bad could that end?

He put the clothes and made his way back to the main part of the shop to clean the counter. He was already gone for a while, so there were couple of people inside by the time he returned. Some of them snorted, seeing the way Aaron was dressed and it made Burr want to turn around and stay in the back for the rest of his days, but he told himself to smile more and care less.

Caring less didn't work, he still was too self conscious about his every move, but by smiling nicely he made some people uncomfortable with their previous reaction, so they started acting properly.

Noon.

He somehow managed to work and not mind anything until noon, just talking to random clients and reading Sally's guidebooks, when someone walked inside, no, stormed inside angrily and made his way towards him.

Aaron didn't even look in his client's direction before saying out of freshly discovered habit:

“Welcome to KaBloom, how can I…?”

He stopped when stranger slapped 20 bucks on the counter shamelessly.

“How do I passive-aggressively say fuck you in flower?” He demanded.

Aaron almost choked, hearing the request. He finally looked at the client with eyebrows raised. The man was dressed in a suit with his tie loosely hanging around his neck. Except for it and really messy hair he looked quite elegant, maybe even handsome, but all Aaron could do was stare at him for a second to make sure he heard him correctly.

“Fuck you in flower?” He repeated dumbly.

“Yes. Can you do it?”

“Sure,” Aaron said before he could stop himself. Something about the man made it really hard to deny him. Maybe it was the passion burning in his eyes or how sincere his small smile looked after Aaron agreed to the strange request. Burr wasn't sure, but whatever it was, it worked. “Give me a second.”

His eyes landed onthe guidebook. There was a particular chapter for the flower language somewhere at the end or at least that's what Aaron thought he'd seen before, while looking through the book. After a short while he actually found it and chose flowers appropriate for expressing emotions his client described as “passive-aggressive fuck you”. At least it wasn't another birthday gift or an awkward wedding bouquet.

He wonder if his sister had clients like that every day…

That's when he realised the man was talking to him the whole time.

“She told me I had to bring something to this damn party and I said 'no way I'm celebrating his promotion, when I'm the one, who worked for it the hardest'. Honestly, I stay at the office most nights and it's not like I do it for the promotion, of course not. But seeing this asshole taking my place? It's so frustrating! Like hell he deserves it. What does he do all day beside talking about his empty ideals and yelling at me?”

Burr did his best not to say he didn't ask for any details. But the man seemed in need of this kind of conversation, so he just nodded at what he was saying with consideration.

“And what are his ideals?”

His client looked honestly surprised about the fact Burr answered him, but then he brushed away some hair from his face and began to talk again like nothing happened:

“Idiotic, that's what his ideals are! Sometimes he acts just like he wants to cause anarchy and then flee back to France. He spent there like half of his life and I'm truly disappointed he didn't drown in the Seine, when he had the opportunity.”

He started describing some case his colleague won by playing dirty and Aaron was amazed he met another lawyer in a flower shop. With this much passion and anger it wasn't that surprising, but Aaron should at least be able to recognize his face or the firm he worked in. Lately he's been sitting in court more often, so meeting new people was his new routine. Maybe his client wasn't from New York or was working on something big inside his firm, not going out much? That would explain the matter.

Halfway threw the story Aaron began to gather the flowers, but the other man wasn't bothered. He just kept talking and ignoring other people stumbling across the shop and quickly leaving, when they heard an angry rant. Aaron should ask his client to speak quieter, but he decided to point out something different.

“Defending someone, who's guilty of a crime some deem as inexcusable doesn't mean playing dirty. It's how the system works. People, who committed crimes, have a right for a proper defence in court.”

“Technically…”

“That's the whole point of court trails.”

Aaron partially expected the other man to be outraged by his statement, but he laughed. Burr couldn't help but notice, how nice the sound was.

“I'm not saying everyone, who committed a crime, shouldn’t be able to defend themselves. That would be stupid. I'm just saying some people don't deserve it and Jefferson took the case only because he wanted to make me look bad for declining.”

Jefferson? As in Thomas Jefferson? It was getting more and more interesting. It meant that his client worked for Washington's company, if Aaron wasn't mistaken. He knew Thomas and James Madison for a long time now, but while James was pretty stable person, Thomas had a habit of overreacting and quitting his job just to return a month later.

They worked with Burr for a while, so he could see, why someone like the man in front of him didn't get along with Jefferson. But they definitely shared some qualities, for example being dramatic about everything.

“Everyone deserves it, though.”

“So you're on Jefferson's side?”

“I'm not sure,” Aaron retorted with a smirk. “Why do I need to pick a side, when it can be solved peacefully?” He said it just to annoy the other man, but before he could answer, Aaron pointed at the flowers. “What do you think about the choice?”

The man stared at the counter with blank, clueless expression.

“It's… All right?”

So there was a topic, in which he wasn't always about to start another monologue. Aaron took it as a personal victory and looked back at the guidebook. Perfect.

He started with a single flower.

“It's a meadowsweet and it symbolises uselessness. Yellow carnations,” he explained, while taking another three flowers and surrounding the first one, “stand for disappointment. Which in your situation isn't 'you've disappointed me' as it should be, it's more like 'you're such a disappointment'.”

Orange ones were next. It looked nice for flowers with this kind of meaning.

“Lilies stand for hatred, which I guess is the most accurate.”

The man hummed in agreement. Aaron added the rest of flowers to his bouquet with a smile forming on his lips. He was getting good at it. At the end of the week he'll be better than Sally! All he needed was a guidebook and an angry client.

“Foxglove symbolises insincerity and I added geraniums at the sides, because they mean stupidity,” he ended up with a sigh. All of this he had to remember in just a few minutes, but it was nothing in computerisation to all the knowledge he had to gather at the university, so he didn't complain.

Aaron's smiled widened at the sight of his client's amazement.

“That's perfect!”

“I'm glad.”

All it took to finish the work was finding some subtle, white paper to wrap the flowers and spray them at the end for it to look shiny. Glitter was not something he wanted to touch ever again in his life. He still thought he had some of it on his hands, so when he scratched his cheek, wondering if he should add something more, he probably got some of it on his face again.

The lawyer noticed and without any embarrassment leaned over to Aaron to touch his cheek and help him out. “You've got glitter here,” he mumbled simply and Burr just stopped moving, because of his sudden, very close presence.

It wasn't unpleasant. Aaron dared to think it was rather enjoyable. He looked at the other man from up close and remembered how attractive he was.

Even though Aaron knew he should reprimanded his client, he did nothing. Then he actually thanked him and almost immediately handed him the bouquet.

“Here. My best work.”

For a second, the man looked rather awkward, like he did something he shouldn't have done. But Aaron was focused on how warm his skin felt in the place the glitter was, how it tingled, so he didn't pay proper attention.

“Thanks,” the client said quietly and hesitantly turned around. “So I guess I have to go. Hell is waiting for me. Goodbye.”

Just after he stepped out of the flower shop Aaron remembered something and oh, he really shouldn't care. But it was hard to let the man go just like that. He rushed from behind the counter and went after the man.

“Wait!”

It may have been a little too loud.

“I mean…”

The man was facing him again with his expression clearly surprised and maybe a little hopeful. But no, Aaron had to imagine that. Why would he be hopeful? It was probably just misery caused by the party he was forced to attend.

“Lawyers can't go around with their ties like _that_ ,” Aaron said finally with disapproval in his voice. “It's awful. Let me…”

He took the object in his own hands and made it just as perfect as he did with his own every morning. It probably ought to be strange, but it didn't feel that way. He shouldn't even talk to this man, not to mention he didn't even know his name. But did it really matter?

After all the man didn't seem awkward any more. He even chuckled.

“Thank for fashion advice, but I'm not the one, who's a _lily_ naughty sometimes.”

“Oh, shut up!” Aaron shouted as he looked down at his own clothes. Damn. He forgot about them somewhere in the middle of their conversation. But the man started laughing and Aaron soon joined him.

After they finally calmed down, Aaron stated:

“Okay. That looks better.”

“Thanks,” the other one stated. His smile was quickly replaced by him biting his lip. God, it shouldn't look _that_ good. “You actually did an excellent job. I can't ever get it right. My father wasn't around to teach me, so I didn't really ever did…”

There was a dose of nostalgia in his voice, but Aaron didn't think it was the right moment for deep topics. They stood in the middle of the street, he left his shop open and unguarded and they didn't really know each other. Was it normal for people to talk about personal details right away, not wasting time for any small talk?

“I'm sorry to hear that. But you can always come to me for help,” Aaron offered. “Didn't you have a party to go to?” He asked with an amused expression to lift the spirit of the conversation. The other man almost whined. “I'll see you around.”

Burr was about to enter his store again, when he heard the man calling him again.

“Hey, I didn't catch your name!”

“That's because I didn't introduce myself,” Aaron responded.

“Oh. Well. I'm Alexander Hamilton,” he reached out to Aaron to shake his hand.

 _Alexander Hamilton._ It did sound familiar. Aaron was about to introduce himself as well, but then he thought… What if Alexander will tell everyone, who sold him flowers? Then he could tell people, how he was dressed. It would make him look nasty among those, who mattered in his profession. Excluding Jefferson and Madison, they knew him well, just as some other people from this company, but then there was Washington himself, whose opinion was so important. While Hamilton wouldn't probably have bad intentions, it was an option entirely possible to happen.

Aaron didn't hesitate. He shook Alexander's hand and answered, deliberately leaving out his surname.

“Aaron. Nice to meet you, Alexander.”

“Just Aaron?”

“Just Aaron. Can I give you an advice?”

Alex nodded excitedly.

“Talk less. Smile more,” Aaron said and let go of Alexander's hand he was still holding. It was enough, he should go back to the store. But he couldn't stop himself from laughing, when he saw confusion on Alexander's face. “What? You have a nice smile. I'll see you around.”

Aaron turned around and returned to the shop. But he had a feeling Alex was still standing there, stunned, for a solid amount of seconds before he resumed his actions. Burr chose to ignore the warm feeling appearing in his stomach. _He'll see him around_ , whatever that meant.


	2. Monday

Alexander was in a bad mood after Jefferson's party. Giving the bouquet was the easiest part, since he knew Jefferson would be just this kind of person to actually have an idea, what the flowers meant and stood for. That was another pretentious thing about him along with the violet suit and sunglasses he wore, even though they were inside, for pity's sake.

Hamilton didn't wait long to get a drink, which was as good excuse as any to avoid Jefferson. Then he managed to leave after half an hour. Back at home he did some research on his newest case and then he went to bed at 3 AM, only because last night he didn't sleep at all.

In the morning he made himself a big cup of coffee and was about to go to work, since he didn't do much beside it recently, but he noticed something next to him on the floor, a pile of leaves to be exact. He knew the ficus was there, of course he did. The plant was loosing it's leaves for at least a couple of weeks, which was kind of irritating. It was a present from Eliza, back in the day, when they were dating. It was meant to make his apartment seem more cosy, but he usually didn't pay any attention to the ficus. He didn't have time for it.

He stared at the plant for a second, thinking about the man he met the day before.

Aaron.

Smile formed on Alexander's lips naturally. He decided to bring some water and move the plant closer to the window. Would Aaron approve of his actions? Maybe he should ask him. They were meant to see each other around, which meant Aaron wanted to see Hamilton again.

Right?

Alexander certainly hoped so. Aaron was really intelligent and friendly. Discussing the whole Jefferson matter with him was also really pleasant. He hoped to do that again. Maybe leaving Jefferson out of it. But talking to Aaron, touching his cheek or feeling his warm hands on him, when he fixed Alexander's tie… It was extraordinary.

“Alex has a crush!” John shouted.

He was already at the office in a blink of an eye. He could claim that he didn't think about Aaron and his deep, dark eyes since he left his apartment, but that would be a terrible lie.

John was sitting behind his desk, when Alex shook his head and mumbled “not true”. Lafayette was passing by to hear, what John said.

Poor Frenchmen choked on his drink.

“What? Really?” He made his way towards them and sat on John's desk. “Tell me everything! No, wait. Herc! Come here!” Yelling made the forth man come and soon three pairs of eyes were burning holes in Alexander.

“That's bullshit, John,” he said.

Laurens rolled his eyes.

“Oh, please! Look at yourself. You came here 20 minutes ago, all smiley and happy. You didn't work at all for twenty minutes. I didn't see you this way since your break up with Eliza.”

“Come on,” Lafayette encouraged him with a huge smile. “Spill the greens.”

“It's beans, Laf,” reminded Herc.

“Whatever,” huffed the Frenchman. “Just tell us.”

Alexander sighed.

“But it's really nothing huge. I met this guy…”

“I knew there was somebody!” John yelled victoriously.

Lafayette shushed him and looked at Alexander expectantly.

“Okay, so I met him yesterday at this flower shop down the street and I started complaining about Jefferson.”

“How romantic,” added John with an obvious shade of sarcasm in his voice, but Laf put his hand on the man's mouth to make him quiet.

“Well.” At this point there was no other choice but to continue, so Alex let the words fly from his lips. “I didn't even think he would answer me, but he did and he was so smart, we talked about defending criminals, while he was making the bouquet…”

Hercules raised his eyebrows.

“Did he put something inside it? Jeffs looked pissed.”

“No,” Alex laughed. “Every flower in it was meant to offend him, though. It symbolised hatred, uselessness, et cetera.”

Herc looked at Alexander's amused expression and sighed.

“I knew you'd find a way to offend him somehow.”

“Don't tell me you like the man! Laf is bad enough to actually talk to him!”

“Hey, I'm still here!” Yelled the Frenchman, letting go of John, who only shook his head but said nothing. Instead, Lafayette continued with a rather neutral tone of voice. “You know, he really isn't that bad, when you get to know him.”

Alexander turned to face Hercules once again and raised his eyebrows.

“See? And it's clear Jefferson is nice to him, only because of the accent. If you're not French, Jefferson will be an ass to you.”

“That's not true,” Lafayette said immediately. He looked like he was about to say something more about the matter, but then he stopped with mouth open and eyes a little wide. “Shit. What time it is?” He looked at the phone screen. “Oh, shit. Gotta go. Meeting new client in ten. Wish me luck, mon amis! Au revoir!”

Just like that Laf was gone. The topic of Alexander's crush – damn it, not a crush, just a stranger he met in a flower shop – would hopefully vanish with him. Maybe not exactly a stranger, Alex knew his name. Only the name. But it had to mean that maybe sometime in the future they would…

Who was he kidding? He did count on something more with the man, even if he didn't knew anything about him, beside his subtle statements in short discussions, lovely shade of brown eyes, nice smile…

“Alex?”

Hamilton jumped at the sound of his own name. Hercules was looking at him with a smirk. “Daydreaming about your new boyfriend?” He asked.

The last thing he wanted to do was admitting to what he was thinking about, but somehow the first thing that came to his mind was:

“He's not my boyfriend.” And it was too defensive for Alex not to go a little bit red on the cheeks.

“You didn't deny thinking about him, though,” Herc laughed. “Anyway, I have to go too. Some work to do and then hopefully I can skip the afternoon meeting. And the Jefferson thing…”

Alex growled, but didn't interrupt much beyond that.

“No, stop it. I know you're mad at Jeffs for taking the promotion, but see it the other way. It means he'll be out of the office more often, establishing things with other firms, contacting rich basters you don't care about. And you get to do your job, exactly what you're good at and what you want to do.”

“I still hate him.”

Herc rolled his eyes.

“Thought so. But try not to set his office on fire again,” he said as he turned around and headed towards the door.

“It was one time!”

“Sure.”

“And it wasn't on purpose!”

“Bye, Alexander.”

Hamilton made a sound of deep, complex suffering and basically slammed his head down on the desk. It has been forty minutes or so, since he came to work and he still didn't fill any of his boring paperwork. He wanted to do it yesterday, but the party happened. Also he wasn't supposed to come to work on Sundays, Washington told him once not to do that and was keeping his watch of it every week. But when Hamilton didn't work on Sundays as hard as he usually tries to, even without an access to his office, then he was short with time and the documents needed filling, while he was taking care of his new strategy in court or interviewing some of his witnesses.

Could he hire someone to do his paperwork for him? Or was it illegal? Damn it, as a lawyer he should know that, but he couldn't force himself to care.

“Did you fall asleep?” Asked John suddenly and Alex tensed automatically.

He mentally yelled at himself for forgetting the other man was still near.

“Nope. Just suffering.”

“You're not working and you were here for like an hour already. What's wrong with you, seriously?”

“Forty minutes,” Alex mumbled.

“Yeah, whatever. What's up with you?”

“Nothing. Just distracted, I guess.”

He finally put his head up and took the papers in his hands. Filling it for the next two hours sounded like hell but then he could actually work on something worth a while and help people. It was an excellent way to motivate himself.

But John on the other hand, wasn't having any of Alexander's lies.

Laurens took his chair and made his way on the other side of Alex's desk. After he sat down he just began staring at his friend. That's how another two or three minutes passed. It didn't take long for Alex to snap and put the papers away with a sigh.

“What do you want?”

“Talk to me. You never get distracted. Come on. It can't be just about this guy from a flower shop.”

Alex frowned and refused to meet his eyes. It really wasn't, was it? But maybe it was connected. He usually avoid focusing on his emotions, but the other day he was conflicted and while he felt satisfied about flirting with Aaron and then irritating the living shit out of Jefferson… At the same time he felt somewhat empty. Did it make any sense?

“It's about Eliza.”

He surprised himself by the words, which left his own mouth. It was like he was forming thoughts by saying out loud things he didn't yet had figured out. But it wasn't quite shocking, since giving speeches, talking, writing… It was easy. It was how he got to live a life like this one. But then again, speaking freely like he was right this second brought to him bad things just as often as the good ones.

You could say it was both a talent and a curse. What a cliché. Only it wasn't a fancy superpower from comic books, but damn, it would be fun.

“I didn't think about it much before, because I was busy.”

It wasn't a lie. Hamilton was incredibly busy over the last few weeks, maybe longer. He slept three hours at best, drank seven coffees a day or more, it was the seventh one, when he kept loosing count of them and the papers… God, he was drowning in all the papers, all the meetings, all the trails. After a trail he was out of the court in a matter of second to start or continue work.

But the last days happened to be much calmer and it was killing him, even though he tried to ignore it. And then he met Aaron.

“But with Eliza it was serious. We were together for two years. You know my previous relationships lasted like a month at best, then they'd get sick of me constantly doing things and never stopping…”

“It's not a bad thing, you realize, right?”

“But I never stopped _for_ them. It's bad. I don't blame them for breaking up with me.”

John gave him an uncertain look.

“You're blaming yourself?”

“Yes. And see, it seemed all right earlier for me, because I had work to do, I still have so much work to do everyday, but after Eliza… I realized how unfair it was. But I want someone in my life and I don't want to screw it up again. Eliza was putting up with so much for me and I fucked it up anyway, so I don't know, if I can control myself enough to actually be worth someone's while.”

He wanted to bad to say _“_ _to be_ _worth Aaron's while”_ , but he stopped himself. It was ridiculous, but Aaron made him think about all this, analyse his own feelings. Something he neglected for weeks after Eliza broke up with him.

To be honest, he should be mad at Aaron for making him consider his own love life in this aspect, one with long relationship and trust. It was going to make his life so much more complicated and Alex knew that.

John nodded fiercely and acted as if he could easily read Alexander's thoughts.

“Of course you're worth that guy's while, don't sell yourself short. Relationship end sometimes, that's just how it goes, Alex. You're a workaholic, true, but that doesn't change anything. The only remaining problem is,” he hesitated slightly before sighing and continuing, “that you have to be sure you dealt with your break up with Eliza before you start another relationship.”

“It's been…”

“Believe me, I know it's been long, Alex. But remember what you did right after the break up?”

Hamilton licked his lips nervously.

“No?” It wasn't meant to sound like a question, but Alexander sometimes loosed he confidence, while talking about personal stuff. It was something only his friends, Eliza and maybe Washington (only because he began treating Alex like a son after hearing his life story) knew about.

“You haven't stop working for four days straight, not eating nor sleeping, but filling yourself with caffeine. God, I'm glad you fainted and we had to take you to hospital before you ended up with some serious body damage. The point is you work instead of dealing with things.”

John noticed Alex opened his mouth to object, but he didn't let him do that.

“Don't deny it! You have to deal with it, because from what you've told me, you're still not over Eliza and the emotional connection you two shared. So be friends with this guy first, I guess, just talk to him and then you'll know, when the right time comes.”

The advice was valid. Alexander had to somehow move with his life. He wasn't in love with Eliza. Before the break up they agreed that the feeling disappeared. They didn't spent time together any more and it just wasn't like at the beginning, so there was no sense in trying to sustain something that already didn't existed.

They were friends and Alexander was incredibly thankful for that, since it was basically his fault they split up in the first place, but ending this chapter in his life filled him with sadness. And he carried it for the past weeks. He tried to act as if it wasn't there, but he never got rid of it.

Maybe Aaron would help him.

But friends first, he reminded himself. He didn't even know if Aaron was interested in something more. Damn it, he could as well be heterosexual and Alexander was daydreaming about something surreal for the past hour.

But it didn't matter at the moment. Friends.

“Okay,” he said out loud. Then he looked at John and smiled smugly. Enough of the depressing, deep conversation. “Thanks, Dr Phil. I don't know, what I'd do without you.”

John gasped dramatically. He threw a pen at Alex.

“Fuck off, I was just trying to help your sorry ass.”

“Then help me think of an excuse to go buy flowers today. Like dying grandmother. Would it be too much? Annoying co-worker did the job. Oh, let's mix the two. Dying Jefferson. I'd totally buy him a bouquet on this occasion and then a bottle of good champagne for the celebration.”

They started laughing hysterically. Alex kept talking about different ways he imagined Jefferson's death would look like. John nearly fell off his chair, but he was holding onto the desk, which wasn't the most steady thing either.

Joking would continue as long as someone wouldn't come yell at them to be quiet. Alexander, surprisingly, felt better after this conversation. A lot better. Maybe one day he would actually thank Jefferson for getting the promotion he wanted, which resulted in Hamilton rethinking his life.

Well, no.

That would never happened. Thanking Jefferson? Ridiculous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Aaron in this one, but he will be in the next chapter. I have five written and prepared for now, probably five more to write as well. And I feel like Alexander's ficus should be mentioned amongst the characters, because it will have quite a big role in the fic. But no spoilers!


	3. Tuesday, Part One

Aaron worked pretty steadily for two and a half days and was quite content with his job. Sally called once or twice a day to check on him. She was actually quite surprised, when Aaron told her how well he was handling things so far. At first Sally suspected Aaron burned the whole place down. Hearing about the glitter incident and all the broken vases wasn't apparently enough.

People were walking in and out of the shop, usually with flowers, sometimes only in need of an advice. Aaron already read three guide books and saw himself as a trustful source of information, mostly for basic knowledge, but at least he wasn't clueless.

In the afternoon there weren't many clients in need of his assistance. The ones coming were just there to see some flowers out of curiosity, maybe even look at the vases (although he didn't sell a single vase yet, so he was starting to doubt that their presence was necessary). A woman with bright red jacket asked about the price of sunflowers. Except for small talk Aaron didn't usually enjoy with clients, he had nothing to do.

So he started to clean at the back of the shop. First thing he did was throwing away the horrendously ugly clothes he wore during his first day of work. After that mistake he stopped wearing button-ups to the shop, because he was a little scared he would destroy them. Sweaters on the other hand were comfortable and he didn't have to be worried about ruining the fabric. Also, he started carrying around a second set of clothes, _just in case_.

Useless couldn't even begin to describe half of the things stored at the back. Aaron knew he had to be careful with throwing away papers, there could be some important documents somewhere between them. But apart from them, there were bags of some old decorations, boxes, candy wrappers… Clearing it out may have been irritating, but it gave him something to do, so he couldn't complain.

All of the documents and contracts he found were in a good state, so he made a place for them near the guide books. It looked much better than before, when he was finally done with cleaning. He should bring a vacuum there sometime.

He'd probably consider other cleaning options for the next half an hour, but he heard a rather loud noise from the entrance and hurried there to see, what happened.

Aaron was rarely surprised by any events. He didn't guess. Constant observing other people and analyzing their actions made him prepared for any possibility. So when he saw Alexander Hamilton at the door, carrying a ficus, which was almost his own size, he couldn't say that he was surprised.

But he definitely didn't see that coming and certainly wasn't prepared for the plant to fall from Alexander's hands right on the floor, making a mess of dry soil all over the shop. The flowerpot split in two halves. It had to hit the door earlier, which Aaron heard from the back, but it was nothing compared to this. The noise made people from the other side of the street gasp and turn towards the shop.

“Aaron!” Alexander exclaimed. “Just the man I was looking for! I promise I can explain, see… That's all because…”

Hamilton seemed a little flustered and even embarrassed by the situation he caused. It was the second time Aaron saw the man, but those emotions definitely didn't suit him. Alexander's face fell, when Aaron didn't respond.

 _And here I was, believing I was handling things well_ , Aaron thought to himself bitterly.

He had to go back, where he came from, to grab two brooms (because hell, it was Hamilton's fault and the man was going to help him clean it up) and dustpans. Looking at the room at the back, he sighed.

Why did he bother with tidying, when it took Hamilton two seconds to ruin half of the store? He wanted to be angry and truth to be told, he was quite irritated, but Alexander didn't do it on purpose and Aaron wasn't going to yell at him, because of the stupid accident.

He couldn’t yell at the client anyway, that's for sure. But did Hamilton seem like a client? He bought a bouquet, paid for it, but their conversation made it at least a little bit surreal.

When Aaron returned, he was surprised to see Alexander on his knees, trying to somehow clean up the mess without any necessary equipment. His attempts were pathetic, but Aaron couldn't help but smile at the other man. Hamilton rapidly lifted his head up, when he heard footsteps, and looked at Aaron apologetically. His cheeks turned slightly red.

“I'm sorry, Aaron,” he started.

Burr shook his head.

“Don't be. That's all right, accidents happen. I'm not mad at you.”

Saying that felt really abstract. Aaron had no right to be mad at a customer. It was meant to be his work for a week, selling flowers, making those silly bouquets, opening the store and closing it every day. Cleaning after the customers was part of his current situation, which he agreed on, when he wanted to help his sister.

But Alexander looked so relieved all of the sudden, the sloppy smile returning on his lips. Was he worried that Aaron would throw him out of the store? Was it how Hamilton was usually treated by people?

Well, Aaron would make him clean up the mess, but nothing above that. He handed Alexander one of the brooms along with a dustpan.

“You will help me clean though, is that all right?”

Technically he had to ask, but he already saw Alexander getting ready to work.

“Yes, of course.”

Aaron was content with how smooth their agreement was. Later he could ask Alexander, why he brought this large ficus to the flower shop in the first place, but for now he was occupied with making the place decent again.

He stared at the plant and sighed. They won't get anywhere with a broken pot. He found a new one behind the counter and began to lift the plant, while Alexander was getting rid of the soil, but apparently it wasn't hard enough of a task.

“I can help, if it's too heavy,” he offered right away.

“It's okay,” Aaron assured. Placing the ficus shouldn’t be that difficult, but he had to add more soil to the new pot. He did just that, while Alexander looked unconvinced, but didn't stop cleaning.

Apparently he was really invested in making it tidy again, since he was the one, who caused the mess. That had to be the reason. But he was just as stubborn as Aaron guessed he would be.

“Really, I can help.”

“I've dealt with worse,” Burr said dismissively. “Heavier, that is.”

The plant was big, sure. But he was alone with his sister for years, they had to manage things some way. He would take care of all the complicated, adult stuff, when the rest of teenagers were having fun, drinking, making love. His sister didn't want it for him, but he was sure as hell not leaving all the responsibilities on her back.

So he did, in fact, meant it more metaphorically than physically. And he didn't notice, when Alexander stopped, because Aaron was busy handling the plant. But Hamilton was staring at his back with an emotion written on his face Aaron wouldn't recognise anyway.

“Heavier plants?” Alex mumbled.

“Amongst other things,” Aaron hummed in response.

“Oh. Okay.”

Burr chose to ignore the hesitation in Alexander's voice. They made the place clean in the next twenty minutes, while chatting with each other about some irrelevant matters. It was so simple to hold the conversation with Alexander, who talked basically all the time, living very little space for the other person to respond.

But Aaron didn't mind. If anything, he actually valued the way Alexander was speaking with an insane amount of passion about stuff people rarely had interest in. Burr didn't even have to force himself to be polite, he was genuinely curious, what Alexander had to say. When Hamilton didn't talk, he listened very carefully and formed other thoughts, arguments in his mind. Aaron didn't even had to know the man very well to see, how brilliantly his mind worked.

He was right in the middle of one of his monologues, when some client showed up. She was the first one in half an hour and Alexander didn't even notice her presence, while Aaron looked in her direction with a professional smile.

“Okay, but Aaron, listen. Our educational system is awful, you can't deny it. And before you say education is important…”

“Education _is_ very important,” Burr agreed.

“Yeah, that. You could be more original, you know?” Alex complained and at the same time made Aaron roll his eyes. “I know education is important. Believe me, I wouldn't be the same person without all the reading and writing I did in the past. But educational system? Come on! Have you heard about this teacher, who locked the kids in his classroom until they were done writing some bullshit? He threatened them! Maybe he didn't want to hurt them physically, but emotional damage is just as bad. I guess it's good that he wasn't a rapist. But I'm sure you heard about it…”

 _Of course I heard,_ Aaron thought. _I took his case._

But he couldn't exactly tell Alexander that. Hamilton would judge him. There would be an argument between them sooner or later and then Hamilton would never return to the flower shop again, let alone want to see Aaron more.

Burr wasn't ashamed of his cases nor his clients. There were people in need of defending. No matter what they did, Aaron's job was to help them and stay neutral on the moral ground.

“I think I read about it in a newspaper,” he lied instead of telling the truth, because damn it, he certainly wasn't ashamed of his profession, but he didn't want to upset Hamilton either. He had couple of days in this flower shop, leading a different life. Was it wrong to use it as an excuse to be finally free of empty judgement?

Hamilton made Aaron remember his colleagues from his real work, not the temporary one. But none of them were as passionate and angry as Alexander, and somehow it was enough to make Aaron look at the things from Hamilton's perspective and forget for a second about his own experience.

It was nice, the way Alexander saw the world. Nicer than Aaron would like to admit. Believing that everything could be better, when someone would fight hard enough for it. Usually things like that were reserved for dreams, fantasies, children's books. But no, Alexander wasn't childish, he was just filled with determination. He knew world was cruel and reminded Aaron of that every five minutes. Educational system, church, politics, wars… Every aspect of wrong in this world had it's place in Alexander's mind. But there was always a way to fight with it.

Aaron didn't think Alex could ever give up.

Of course Hamilton didn't stop talking until the woman, who entered the shop earlier, didn't interrupt him.

“I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for a specific kind of flowers. Can you help me?”

Both Hamilton and Burr were standing behind the counter, so she didn't know, which one of them she should ask for help. Alexander stared at Aaron. He was apparently lost, when there weren't politics involved. Aaron wanted to laugh, but he only smiled, more sincerely than when he was looking at the lady before.

“Of course I can,” he said and stood up. “What kind of flowers are you looking for?”

“Chrysanthemums. Do you sell them?”

“They are just behind the corner, I'll show you.”

He headed towards mentioned direction. Before disappearing behind the corner he caught a glimpse of Alexander awkwardly backing away from the counter, as if he forgot, how he should act before. He bit his lips nervously.

“Alexander?” Aaron called him. The man raised his eyebrows.

“Do you need any help?”

This time Aaron actually laughed.

“Can you even recognise chrysanthemums?”

Alexander scratched the back of his neck.

“Not really.”

“Thought so. Wait for me at the back, could you? I will join you in a second.”

It took a moment for Alexander to nod and back away. Then he came back within the next two seconds to take his backpack, which landed on the floor back when the ficus did. Alex apologised again and sprinted to the back.

Aaron suddenly realised he didn't even ask Alexander, why he was there in the first place. Oh, he was so gone. He met Hamilton two days ago and somehow listening to him talking turned off every sense of reason Aaron has ever had.

Maybe his troubles are only just starting after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Editing on the phone was a nightmare, but it's done, so yay! Till the next chapter...


	4. Tuesday, Part Two

First thing Alexander did after entering the other room was opening his backpack and searching for the phone. The meeting did not go, how Alexander expected. Damn, at first it was a total disaster. Alex wanted to disappear right there and then, when Aaron left him alone with the mess.

 _I_ _had to fuck it up,_ Alexander thought, when he was standing helplessly at the door. _Like everything in_ _my_ _life,_ _I_ _had to ruin this too._ But he needed to stop panicking. Waiting patiently for Aaron to come back was the smartest thing to do, despite the fact that Alexander wasn’t the best at waiting. The idea of staying still for a certain amount of time without any purpose was beyond scary and seemed completely useless to him. His patience was shitty as well, if it wasn’t obvious already.

But then the situation got better, when Aaron came back and Alexander realised he did not, in fact, make Aaron hate him. They cleaned up, while talking about many things and Alexander stopped controlling himself, making his monologues long and sincere. When he stopped at some point for Aaron to respond and saw the man looking at him with something close to an actual amazement in his eyes, Hamilton's heart started beating frantically.

He turned away to mask the blush and listened to Aaron talk with his soft voice. Though Aaron's statements lacked confidence, Alexander noticed that the man looked at some matters so differently and it was quite refreshing. It made Alex think and come to new conclusions.

Such a shame Aaron wasn't a lawyer. His presence in the firm would make the cases so much more interesting…

When Alex finally found his phone, he didn't waste any second. He started typing a message to Laurens.

_Alex: I'm not sure, if he's glad I'm here or very angry, but now I'm sitting at the back of his store, what should I do?_

After a moment of consideration he started writing again.

_Alex: He's so hard to read. Like, he smiles, but sometimes it seems more like a habit than something sincere. He smiled at me a couple of times, though, and it looked truthful._

_Alex: But the ficus broke. I thought he hated me, but he doesn't._

_Alex: I hope he doesn't._

_Alex: Joooohn, where r u?_

Alex almost dropped the phone, when it buzzed unexpectedly.

_John: I literally have no idea, what you're talking about._

And again. He really shouldn’t set his phone to the vibrate mode _._

_John: Wait, you're at the back of his shop?_

_Alex: Yes and I'm freaking out. What should I do?_

_John: Idk, take off your clothes?_

_Alex: What_

_Alex: Damn it, you told me to be friends with him!_

_John: Then take off your clothes really friendly ;)_

_Alex: !!!!!_

_John: ???_

_John: Why are you panicking? Talking to him can't be that scary._

_Alex: What if I fuck something up tho_

_Alex: Like with Eliza?_

_John: You'll be fine._

_John: Text me the details later, but for now leave me alone, I have to make a deal within 15 minutes and I'm giving you love advices._

_John: YOU_

_John: Out of all people, the mighty Alexander Hamilton needs my help._

_John: On the second thought, I will make screenshots and use it for blackmail. Or maybe your future wedding?_

_Alex: Fuck off_

_John: Byeeee_

Alexander blocked the screen and threw his phone to the backpack. He wasn't expecting any real advice from John at this point. He didn't even know Aaron. But Laurens could be a little more of a moral support.

Looking at the damned ficus in the corner, Alex smiled bitterly. It was a present from Eliza. One he never really taken care of, but he decided to use it as a pretext to meet Aaron again. It wasn't really a noble thing to do, but Eliza wanted him to move on and Alexander didn't have any more bright ideas on how to do that.

He didn't have to wait long for Aaron to appear, but the man apologised him anyway.

“Sorry I kept you waiting.”

“No, it's fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

The silence between them was a little awkward. Alexander had no idea, what he should say. Was he supposed to continue their previous discussion? It seemed appropriate, but he wasn't even sure, what was the last thing he said.

Thankfully Aaron spoke first.

“So to what do I owe the pleasure?”

Alex furrowed his eyebrows in confusion just for a second before he realised, what the other man had in mind. There should be a reason for Hamilton to go to the flower shop in the first place. Of course there was one. But he couldn't just tell Aaron the truth.

“The ficus!” He exclaimed too loudly as he pointed at the plant.

“Yes, I somehow managed to notice it's presence,” said Aaron with a nod. His eyes crinkled, which wasn't completely a smile, but it was pleasant to look at. He was clearly sarcastic, which made Alex laugh.

“It doesn't look good.”

“It looks like it hasn't been watered.”

“I have an extremely busy schedule.”

“I can imagine.”

There was something in his tone of voice, which made Alexander uncertain for a second. The words were slightly bitter in a way Alexander could’ve recognise anywhere. How come that someone, who ran a shop, gained certain knowledge to despise his profession? He didn't seem to think so before. Well, for all Alex knew, it could be nothing or maybe just an empty opinion, but no, it wasn't like that.

Aaron didn't have empty opinions, did he? Even if he didn’t like sharing them.

It made Alex ask:

“Do you have something against lawyers?”

Aaron shrugged.

“Some of them.”

The next question was out of Alexander's mouth before he could even think about it.

“Do you have something against me?”

“I don't think so,” Aaron answered. It did not satisfy Alexander's curiosity. “I would have to see you in court.”

“I'm not sure it's that easy.”

“Oh, maybe it's easier than you think,” the florist said, but he stopped himself. He also made sure Alexander wouldn't get a chance to ask, what he meant. “But let's get back to the ficus. Watering it may be not the only thing needed. Where do you keep it normally, when you don't take it for a walk? It requires nutrients as well…”

Alexander got a little distracted at that point. He nodded, when Aaron expected him to do so, adding “yes” or “got it” sometimes in between the instructions. But he thought about Aaron more than the plant, which shouldn't surprise anyone beside the man himself.

Aaron was an unsolved mystery Alexander couldn't stop thinking about. Of course, he was handsome and smart. It caused Alex's crush, but there was something else. Why did he run the shop, when he was so smart? Did he go to college? Probably. He knew much about law and politics. He was polite and appropriate towards every customer like it was a trick he had to learn at some point in his life. But at the same time he sometimes seemed to get lost in the flower shop. He looked for things a little too long, walked around carefully not to break something like he wasn't used to the place at all.

Maybe he wasn't. But he knew a lot about plants and the shop didn't appear to be just recently set nor moved from somewhere else. Not in the bad sense of course. It looked like it belonged there, but Aaron didn't.

What was his story?

“Alexander? Are you even listening?”

“Yes, I promise I won't let it die. How much do I owe you?”

Aaron blinked at him.

“Nothing. You didn't buy anything.”

“But,” he tired to say that he made a huge mess and troubled Aaron for so long, but the florist rolled his eyes.

“Advices are free. Just next time don't bring it here. Do a picture, if you can't name the plant.”

“Yeah, that's sounds… Logical.” _Why didn't I think about it before?_ “Well, I shouldn't bother you any longer. But I do feel like I ought to pay you for wasting more than an hour of your time.”

Alex felt weird by saying it. In the firm every minute mattered for him. He had to work twice as hard as everybody else, push himself harder and harder each day, but here? Time seemed irrelevant. He could swear that it hadn't been more than 15 minutes, but the clock didn't lie.

He was relieved to see that Aaron didn't mind.

“Don't be ridiculous. I enjoyed spending time with you. Between you and me, it gets really dull here sometimes.”

Shouldn’t Aaron like his work? He didn't look like the type of person to let himself be forced to work in a certain field he had no interest in, especially since it was a flower shop. Who would even force him to work in a flower shop? Parents? Some cruel biology teacher in high school?

“If you say so,” Alex agreed hesitantly. But it was now or never. He didn't have any other plants at home, so his options were narrowed. “You could at least let me buy you dinner.”

_Shit. John told me not to hurry and I asked him out during our second meeting. Great, he'll think I'm some kind of creep, who didn't even need advices. Well, technically…_

He was getting more and more nervous. Usually it would be okay for him to say something cheesy and ask a random person out, even if he only just saw them. But he was never really into serious relationships until now… Or at least now he tried to form a serious relationship and he wasn't particularity good at it.

Then he heard Aaron agreeing.

“I would love to have dinner with you.”

Alex waited for “but”, yet it didn't appear. Instead Aaron took a step closer to him.

“How about tomorrow? Meet me outside of the shop at eight.”

“Sounds wonderful,” Hamilton answered with a grin forming on his face.

Thinking about meetings he probably had tomorrow evening wasn't one of his priorities, surprisingly. He could reschedule them. It wasn't difficult, he just usually didn't imagine neglecting his responsibilities. But Washington did tell him to take a break.

So for the first time, he could listen and actually take a break.

Whoever Aaron was, he managed to change Alexander during their second meeting. Hamilton didn't know, if he should be worried, or excited.

“See you tomorrow,” he stated.

After he turned around, Aaron coughed.

“Alexander?”

“Yes?”

“Didn't you forget something?”

Well, he had his backpack. The phone was somewhere in there surely. He didn't pull out anything else, all the papers were hidden, his wallet as well, so…

“Oh!”

If plants had emotions, his ficus would be very angry and disappointed right now. Maybe also a little embarrassed for Alexander.

“Right. The ficus,” he mumbled as he approached the plant. He hoped it wouldn't be as hard to take it out as it was to bring the object in.

Aaron laughed.

“You should name it.”

“Name it?”

“Name your ficus. Then you'll be more sorry, when you won't take care of it.”

It was Alex's turn to roll his eyes.

“I'm not that irresponsible,” he insisted. “But your psychological tricks are impressive. Are you sure you're actually a florist?”

It slipped, but Aaron stared at him, impressed. So Alexander was right after all.

“I'm not sure, how you succeed at leading your cases, when you fail at remembering about a plant.”

Aaron avoided the real answer, but it was fine. Alex likes mysteries, especially solving them.

“What is that supposed to mean?” He asked dramatically.

“Exactly, what you heard, Alexander.”

“Watch your tongue, or I'll make you pay for yourself at our dinner.”

The other man raised his eyebrows.

“What a terrible date it would be,” he teased.

Alexander decided it was the time to head out, before he would do something regretful or blush again and talk nonsense. He took the plant in his hands. It was heavy, but he could make it. He didn't want to be worse than Aaron, even though the man had to move it just to the pot, while Alex had to take it all the way to his car on the parking lot.

“Do you need help?” Aaron was looking at him with doubt written across his face.

“No, it's all right.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’ve dealt with worse,” he answered and winked at Aaron.

The florist opened the door for Alexander with a smile forming on his lips.

“Good to know.”

Hamilton stepped out of the shop.

“See you tomorrow, Aaron,” he repeated once again.

“Don't forget to water the ficus,” the man said before closing the door.

 _God, he will be the death of me_ , Alexander thought. Was it surprising he never really considered anyone the same way? It was certainly quite scary. But he was always up to the challenge. And he had to name the damned ficus.

Alexander didn't even notice how wide his smile was for the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're going on a date! Are you excited? Ham definitely is.
> 
> Oh, and there will be Angelica in the next chapter!


	5. Wednesday, Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “C’est des conneries” basically means “that's bullshit” according to the translator (because I never learnt French, sadly). Just so you know!  
> Swearing doesn't count if people can't understand you, said Laf, probably at some point.

“How about Philip?” Asked Hamilton, chewing on a pen.

Lafayette looked at Alexander with a mix of confusion and irritation.

“What?”

“Philip.”

“Are you seriously thinking about naming your ficus right now?”

The office was silent, since pretty much half of the people running it were on a lunch break. Laf stayed behind, because he needed to finish some documents on time. Hamilton on the other hand was usually too busy to eat during his working hours, so he skipped lunch until it became a habit. Only this time he waited for Washington to end a meeting and come back to the office before he could actually do some real work, so he found himself lacking any way to pass the time that would be actually worth a while.

“I'm waiting for Washington's response on my schedule, what else should I do?”

“C’est des conneries, you just don't want to do, what Thomas asked you to do.”

“Pigs will fly before I'll start doing his work for him.”

The Frenchmen once again looked at Alex with confusion and muttered “why would pigs fly” under his breath, but he didn't pursue the subject any further. He continued working, while Alexander was getting threw his notes on the lestest statements. But Hamilton didn't really pay attention, he already memorized the notes last night, when he was highlighting the most important facts before going to bed. Instead he chose to focus on his date, which was…

Something he definitely should think about. Damn it. Alexander didn't even figure out, where he should take Aaron for dinner. Was it supposed to be a fancy place or something casual? Alex wanted to treat the other man well, but he didn't plan on scaring Aaron by some elegant, posh place. To be honest, Hamilton didn't even like those fancy restaurants. He had to attend some business meetings in such places from time to time. Being a lawyer obligated him to this forced elegance. But his childhood habits didn't weaken at any point. He would still rather go grab a sandwich down the street than have a nice full meal amongst nosy waitresses.

But would it suggest he didn't value Aaron enough?

Then there was the matter of clothing. But it depended on a restaurant of his choosing. After that he began wondering, if he should take a car, or simply walk to the shop. Would it be respectful to come by earlier to help Aaron close it?

There were so many questions it made Alexander dizzy. Somehow at this point he managed to start thinking about the ficus again. Did he even water it in the morning? He was sure he did before but then again, one time he was entirely sure he locked his apartment and later he came back to find it robbed and messy.

At least this time it was a matter of lesser importance. Or was it? Aaron would and will probably make a big deal out of it.

Lafayette turned around unexpectedly.

“Philip sounds good. Now stop stressing out about the date, mon ami” he said as if he could read minds. He probably could. “And do Jefferson’s stuff, I am not looking forward to another fight between you two. Like this time you set his office on fire.”

“It was one time!” He yelled.

How long will it take for people to forget this certain situation? It wasn’t like he intended to burn Jefferson's office. Accidents happen!

Laf rolled his eyes, but didn't comment it any further.

  


*

  


Hamilton was just about to leave the office, when he ran into Angelica.

“Heading out already? What's going on with you this week? Random breaks and leaving the office before eight,” she chuckled as she entered the elevator along with him.

Alexander wasn't sure, what he was supposed to say. Confessing that he had to prepare for a date didn't seem appropriate, since it was his ex-girlfriend's sister he was talking to. He settled for a rant about Jefferson, but before he could actually start talking, Angelica stopped him.

“Actually, if you have some spare time, maybe you'd consider going out on the party this weekend. We'll have some extra company,” she emphasized the last two words.

It took a second for Alexander to recognize that tone.

“Are you trying to set me up with someone?”

“You damn well know you need it,” she replied.

“What about Eliza? You're her sister!”

“Alexander, it was months ago. You both agreed it was over. She’s got her life sorter out now, you don't. You could use it.”

Well, in this case, maybe telling her about the date wasn't such a bad move. Elevator's door opened, so they started walking together to the parking lot. He offered to take her bags, but she insisted it was unnecessary.

Then Angelica described the party, but Alexander wasn't listening. She mentioned someone she believed would be a “perfect match” for Alexander, said not to worry, because the party wouldn't be too big. There'd be alcohol, that part Alex heard clearly. He didn't get drunk in a long time, so maybe it was an opportunity?

But he wasn't glad at the perspective of Angelica setting him up with some stranger. Or anybody for that matter. She mentioned couple more names, but one of them really struck a nerve. Hamilton looked up instantly.

“You're inviting people from Adams's company?”

She frowned.

“So?”

“So?” He repeated with disbelief. “They're our primal rivals. And they're assholes. Last time I saw Lee…”

Angelica sighed.

“Okay, Lee is an asshole. But it doesn't mean all of them are. You'll like the guy I was telling you about earlier.”

“Hell I will. I'm not coming.”

He didn't say that he wasn't listening. Why would he attend the party anyway? Alex always avoided these weird group bonding meetings Angelica and Jefferson organized outside of the work. With another firm on top of it, things could only get worse.

“Burr is okay. He's friends with Thomas and James.”

Name sounded somewhat familiar, so Alexander paused for a second. But it was probably just someone he heard about, while being in court. No one important.

“You think that out of all people, Jefferson's friendship will convince me?”

“He's better than Lee.”

“Is that really a complement? You have to be a human being to be better than Lee, it's not much to achieve.”

They stopped before Angelica's car. Alexander watched her, as she looked for the keys and then got inside. She lowered the side window and gave Hamilton an exasperated look.

“We're meeting on Sunday. Come and meet Burr, he'll be good for you.”

“I'm actually having a date in about,” he stopped to look at the watch. “Thirty minutes.”

“And you didn't think to mention it before?”

Alex shrugged.

All Angelica could do was shake her head. It was a silent message. _Really, Alexander? Are you serious?_ Hamilton chose to ignore it, but he smiled apologetically, which seemed to convince her.

“All right, go prepare for your date. If it'll be disaster, remember I still have a hot lawyer waiting for you on Sunday,” she promised.

“It won't be a disaster!” He yelled, even though Angelica already closed the window.

As he was walking towards his own car, he started wondering out of curiosity, if this _Burr_ even knew about Angelica's plans. That woman had a talent for making people do what she told them to. Whether it was someone, who could just use a date, like Alexander, or a random lawyer Angelica picked… She was going to make it happen and Alexander almost felt sorry for the guy.

But then he remembered that mister Burr worked with John Adams and Charles Lee, so any positive regards he might have felt before, disappeared instantly.

  


*

  


First thing Alexander saw after entering his own flat was leaves, which have fallen of the ficus. Philip, he reminded himself. He was about to go past it and choose some new clothes before he felt a sharp twinge of guilt. He promised Aaron the other day that he would take care of the plant.

Was he going crazy? Surely the tree… Philip could last a little longer without any extra care, when Alexander was busy.

“Oh my god,” he exclaimed, looking at the object with frustration. “Okay, I'll do it!”

He grabbed the pot and carried the plant closer to the window, where it could get more light. It was good, right? That's what Aaron said. Also, he needed to water it. But not too much. After touching the soil Alexander came to the conclusion that too much wasn't the case, so he brought some water.

“Better?”

Hearing demanding voice from his own throat made him stop for a second and rethink his actions.

“Shit, I'm talking to a plant,” he whined.

Good that it wasn't an animal, because it had no eyes to stare at him at that very moment. Also, he shouldn’t really be responsible for an animal, a plan was barely alive under his care.

Alex turned around and went straight to the bedroom. He opened the closet to pick clothes, stopping before he actually took any item in his hands. Too casual, too elegant, too old, too much like he was going to court…

He finally realised how late it was, so he grabbed some jeans and a button-up, rushing to the shower. After a long day it was a necessity. Luckily he didn't live far from his firm, so getting home took him like five minutes at most.

Was he really obsessing over his work so much that he had to buy a place so conveniently close to the office? Probably. But too many people were judging him because of that already, he didn't need to worry himself. Not to mention that he had to hurry to get to the flower shop on time. At this point it was much more important.

  


*

  


“I knew you'd be late.”

Alexander was indeed late, but only a couple of minutes. He took it as a small victory, even though Aaron didn't see it as a good thing. But the man wasn't mad at him. He was still in the middle of cleaning the shop, when Alex burst in.

He had to take a moment to calm his breath to seem less desperate than he already was and then he asked, if Aaron needed some help.

“You could throw these away, while I'll count the money.”

“Throw away?” He asked, surprised.

There was a bag of flowers, which looked decent enough, even though the leaves were falling and the colours were slightly faded.

“They're not good for sale any more. It's everyday routine, Alexander.”

“Sure.”

He didn't expect Aaron to throw away flowers. But it was logical. Flowers were cut and didn't look as great as they used to. Somehow it made Alex feel upset. He didn't show it, or at least tried to mask it properly, when he took the bag. But the situation reminded him of how little time he had left and how many things were yet to be done before he'll fade just like the flowers.

It took him a little too long to throw away the bag, but he shook the terrible feeling off. When he came back, Aaron was nowhere to be seen, but he must have heard the door shutting.

“Alexander? I'm at the back, changing. I'll be out in a second and we'll go.”

“Okay,” Hamilton agreed.

Alex sat behind the counter and took his phone out. He sent a message to Laf, asking if Jefferson said anything about the papers Hamilton prepared for him. Or in other words, if Jeffs would fuck off already. Then Alex thought about writing to John, but he decided otherwise. He didn't really inform the man about his date, since it would go against John's advice to take things slow.

Hercules had a date too at the same time, at lest that's what Alex heard earlier at the office. And he was sure as hell not writing to Angelica nor Eliza right now. So he muted the phone and put it away.

Seeing as there was nothing left to do for Alex, he started to look around. There was nothing that interesting at the flower shop after it's closing. Flowers were hidden, other things were shoved away as well. It looked empty.

On the counter there were some decorations, a guidebook and a business card.

The last one got Alexander's attention.

He took the object in his hands and read, what it said.

_KaBloom_

_Sarah Reeve_

Was the name familiar? Yes, but Alexander didn't recognise it anyway, just as before. But what stroked him more, it wasn't Aaron's name on the card. Alexander suspected that the flower shop could have more than one employee, but he thought Aaron owned it, so why would there be a name of some girl on the card?

Under it there was a phone number and an e-mail address. The later one seemed like a more personal contact, so Hamilton read it a couple of times to remember it well. He shouldn't take the card with him in case Aaron would notice it's missing and hell… He shouldn't think about it in the first place.

But he was curious and the guilt didn't stop him before picking the phone once again and writing down the address amongst his work notes. Then he put everything away and waited patiently for Aaron to come back.

The florist did and Alexander felt as if he was hit in the lungs.

Aaron looked gorgeous. And far more elegant than Alexander.

He had a full suit with a tie. It was all black, making him more mysterious than he was before. The only thing, which stood out from the darker palette was a white shirt maching Aaron's wonderful smile.

“Is it too much?” He asked, clearly insecure. “I didn't know, whether you want to go to some elegant place or not. I can always take off the tie.”

“No,” Alexander intervened a little too fast. “I mean… It's good. You look great.”

Hamilton forgot instantly about Angelica or the business card, or even the things he needed to handle at work. He returned Aaron's smile.

The man grabbed the keys to the shop and eyed Alex up and down.

“You don't look too bad yourself.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My updates are getting slower, I know! But I had trips and now I have a convention in a few days, so things are getting a little crazy.   
> The actual date will be in the next chapter, some drama there probably (because things are going too well for them, aren't they?). Anyway, what do you think about Angelica's plan to set Ham up with someone? Someone being one incredibly handome lawyer, who is totally not running a flower shop for a while. Wait 'till Aaron finds out about it! Angelica doesn't take no for an answer :D


	6. Wednesday, Part Two

“Please tell me you know, where we’re going,” whined Aaron.

They were in Alexander’s car. Aaron took a good look of it (not the outside, he was never into cars that much) and came to the conclusion that the man wanted to tidy it up, but probably didn’t have enough time to do so. There were papers all over the seats at the back, some on the floor as well. Alexander’s laptop was somehow in the middle of it along with a suitcase and a spare shirt, which didn’t exactly look like something wearable any more.

But the front seats were more or less clean, so Aaron decided to ignore the situation at the back. Not that he was about to lecture Hamilton on how to keep his environment clean… Okay, maybe he wanted to do it just a little bit.

But talking about their final destination seemed like a better idea.

Alexander looked at Aaron, opened his mouth and then remembered he should be paying attention to the road, since he was the one driving. Aaron wouldn’t exactly say that Alex wasn’t a safe driver because he was perfectly fine, when he wasn't distracted by something. But Aaron wouldn’t want to share the same car with Alex after (god forbid) loosing a case or getting into a fight. These kind of distractions would most likely increase their chances for an accident.

“Of course. The restaurant is just behind the corner, trust me.”

Behind the corner there were a couple of shops, a subway place and a tattoo salon. Aaron glared at Alex, who coughed awkwardly.

“The _next_ corner,” he added.

Aaron couldn’t stop himself from laughing out loud at that.

“Sure. But first let me tell you about an offer you can’t refuse.”

The car passed some traffic lights. They were yellow but close to red. Alexander had his eyebrows risen, obviously wondering, what the other man wanted to suggest. It was apparently way more interesting than safe driving.

“I can’t?”

“You cannot. Now, I am sure the place you have in mind is wonderful,” Aaron said. The sarcasm was really subtle, even more muted with a sincere smile. Aaron wasn’t meant to be mean, he wanted for their date to actually begin and for Alex to stop stressing out over the place. “And _next time_ , we can go there so you can show me everything.”

“Next time?” Alex muttered somewhat hopefully.

“But I know a good sushi place a couple of minutes from here, where we can go tonight. Their food is amazing, I heard that he chef is from Japan himself. What do you think?”

Alexander grinned.

“Let’s go.”

 

*

 

Aaron ended up picking both the place and the food they were about to eat, because Alexander insisted that he didn’t know much about Japanese food. The waiter led them to the table by the window, which had the most private vibe. Aaron was really glad they got seated at this one. He found this restaurant through his job and wasn’t looking forward to bumping into any of his work colleagues this particular night.

Or any night, for that matter. He was rather sceptical about such meetings outside of work. Just tonight was a bit more important, since he was with Alexander.

Hamilton chatted all the time. It wasn’t any kind of small talk, Aaron noticed that the man wasn’t capable of something this irrelevant. Alexander mainly talked about politics and law, switching to philosophy and other heavy subjects from time to time. Aaron found himself admiring the way Alex could wrap his head around basically any subject, floating between these many of them so smugly.

So Aaron didn’t interrupt his date. He was smiling at the other man, not realising when he stepped the line between a polite, neutral expression and an interested, more emotional one. It appeared to encourage Alexander to keep talking but he stopped once their food was served.

Two sets of sushi were placed on their table along with the drinks. Aaron thanked the waiter, while Alex seemed to shrink a bit in his seat.

“I talk too much, don’t I?” He asked once the waiter walked away.

Aaron chuckled.

“You do,” he said with a nod. “But I don’t mind.”

“Oh. That’s good, I suppose. Sorry anyway.”

“No, no, continue what you were saying, it was interesting,” Aaron insisted. He let his eyes fall on the table not to get flustered as he said those words a bit too excitedly. He didn’t want to sound weird. Since it was Alexander, who did most of the talking, it was easy for Burr to get anxious if he embarrassed himself, especially when he didn’t have as many things to say as Alexander.

But he doubted anyone had, for that matter. Alexander was really intelligent. Along with the ability of making conversation with anyone, as Aaron guessed, it made him a really unique person to talk to. Also, probably hard to impress. Not that Aaron wanted to impress Alex. He didn’t.

Hamilton took a sip of his tea.

“Well, I just said that as much as I value most of the philosophical systems, some of them just make us seem really insignificant in our own lives, which is crazy. Taking away a value system and morality from a person, making all of their decisions and motivation rely on some sort of higher power or subconsciousness or sex drive.” He threw his hands in the air, making some of the people at the nearest tables stare. Aaron surprisingly didn’t care. “What a limited way of thinking.”

Aaron raised his eyebrows.

“You’re underestimating most of the philosophers and religions right now. Some of the sociology thesis as well.”

“Exactly! The fact it’s that common scares me too!”

The way Alexander’s words sounded made it seem like he was honestly terrified, which he probably was. Aaron suppressed the urge to smile and rolled his eyes instead. He wasn’t one of the people getting easily passionate about any subject, but he certainly valued a good discussion.

“I’m not saying any of those thesis are true, but you’re ignoring human need to depend on something. Whether it is a god or your subconsciousness, it is a foundation or some sort of excuse for our value systems not to be flawless all the time.”

“So you think that,” Alex started once again, even though Aaron was thinking of adding something else to the man’s previous statement. “People use it as an excuse. Okay, I agree, they do. But why do they need an excuse to act awfully, when instead they can just try not to or at the very least be honest with themselves.”

“I take it you don’t believe in necessary evil?”

“Nothing is absolutely necessary. You can fight for things to make them better.”

This time Aaron did smile, which only made Alex frown a bit.

“See, that’s where I don’t agree with you.”

“Why would you…”

“The fact that you believe you can change everything isn’t the way things work most of the time. Some people are in worse positions than you. Necessary evil, lesser evil, things like that make their everyday reality. Maybe it’s just easier for some of them to depend on something, no matter if the wrongness comes from within them or from the outside world. It doesn’t mean they don’t try, just that sometimes there is no win scenario.”

Alex stared a bit at Aaron, but he didn’t seem angry. Quite intrigued, maybe.

“What about you?”

“Me?” Aaron asked with a bit of confusion.

“Do you believe depending on something is better than just honesty or real actions. You speak of other people, which is a good way of providing examples, but you neglect your true opinion.”

Which was quite an accurate way of describing Aaron’s attitude. He always avoided admitting to his own views. It was a thing he learnt, when he was far too young and it only got stronger at the university, since as a lawyer he should focus on other people instead of himself and his opinions. In the court, examples mattered, so his own morality shouldn’t make itself visible. It was just the way things worked.

Apparently not for Hamilton though. But it didn’t make Aaron change his mind.

“I believe I don’t have the right to generalize, so I shouldn’t make a statement myself.”

It was clean and smooth, just the way he’d say it in the court if someone insisted he'd make his own, personal statement. But the way he said it only made Alexander’s frown deepen. He looked at Aaron as if he was analysing him for a few second. Aaron had the chance to start panicking for a few seconds.

Did Alexander suspect something? Or was he about to get really offended and start a fight? Alex was so unpredictable sometimes and Aaron both loved it and happened to be kind of scared of all the possible ways with which the man could react.

Then Alex’s lips twisted into a small smile.

“You really could be a great lawyer,” he admitted. “But it doesn’t mean you’re right.”

He started forming some new arguments, while playing with his chopsticks. He held them with both of his hands, eyeing the food before him carefully. Aaron was sure that the man thought he was being subtle but the way his fingers clenched on the chopsticks made it obvious Alex didn’t actually know what he was doing.

Aaron couldn’t help but laugh. It made Alex stop whatever he was saying at the moment and stare.

“What?”

“Is it your first time eating sushi?”

“Of course not.”

“Try it, then,” Aaron dared with a small chuckle as he continued watching Alexander’s struggle.

After a moment of consideration Hamilton decided to stab a salmon nigiri with one of his chopsticks, using the second one to balance the piece between them. It ended up with nigiri splitting up in a half. Aaron only laughed harder.

“What an expert. I’m sorry I underestimated you,” he commented.

Alex stuck his tongue out at him, which made Aaron roll his eyes once again.

“How mature.”

“You’re the one laughing at me!”

“Can’t help it.”

“I think…”

Aaron recognised that expression.

“Oh, no. Nope. You’re not changing this into another debate.” He shook his head lightly. “Let me teach you how to use chopsticks and then you can tell, whether you love sushi or hate it.”

It took some convincing, because apparently Alex didn’t want to embarrass himself any further but he finally agreed on letting Aaron teach him the basics. So Burr moved his chair a little bit to be able to sit closer to Alex and instructed the man to take the chopsticks and hold them in one hand lightly just as Aaron did.

“Like that?”

“No, the bottom one has to still or you’ll drop your food.”

“How can I even grab my food in the first place if I can’t move them?”

“You move the top one.”

“I don’t get it. Why can’t I just use a fork or my hands? It’d be quicker.”

Aaron sighed.

“Just watch me, it’s easy,” he said with a hint of exasperation in his voice as he picked up a California roll from his plate. “See?”

He ate the roll and watched Hamilton trying and failing to copy his movements Alex was clearly pretty frustrated, because he wasn’t used to failing, that much Aaron could deduce. Since it didn’t work as Alex tired to use chopsticks himself, Aaron thought he could try something else.

He put his right hand on Alexander’s and placed the chopsticks the way they were meant to be held. Alex seemed a bit flustered at that. Aaron tried not to smile at the warm feeling in his hand. He wasn’t used to expressing his emotions so openly.

“Okay, what now?” Alex asked.

Aaron looked at their hands once again before backing off slightly.

“Take one of the smaller ones. They’re called cucumber maki. Try not to drop it half way through.”

This time Alexander managed to do it and earned a wide smile from Aaron. They continued eating with Alexander saying how much he enjoyed trying new kinds of food. He liked pretty much every single thing he tasted so far. Aaron was glad he didn’t screw up, when he chose this certain restaurant.

“You can try it with soy sauce too,” he suggested. Alex took a bowl in his hands and was about to spill the sauce on his plate, when Aaron stopped him. “No, no, dip something in it.”

Alex raised his eyebrows.

“You expect me to hold something with chopsticks for that long? Seriously?”

“Oh my god. Here, let me,” he suggested, gesturing at his own chopsticks. Before he could think twice he picked up some random roll and dipped it in the sauce. He bent over to be closer to Alex and made the man eat it. Well, maybe not made, Alexander himself opened his mouth obediently as Aaron approached him.

When Aaron realised how close they were, he moved back instantly. Alex looked flushed with his cheeks bright red. Aaron’s face was hot as well but he was glad it didn’t show at all on his skin.

“Is it good?”

“Yeah.”

It was silent for a while. Aaron wondered if he overstepped some boundaries. Alexander wasn’t the type of person to stay quiet for long, especially if there was nobody else talking. It didn’t take long for him to prove Aaron was right but Burr was still a bit concerned that he did something wrong.

“What’s the green thing?”

“Huh? Oh. Wasabi. Don’t eat too much of it, it’s spicy.”

Alexander cracked a smile.

“Is that a challenge?”

“Sure, if you want to die.”

“I can take it!”

Alexander indeed took all of it in his mouth and proceeded to die out of the spiciness. Aaron took pity on him and asked a waiter for an extra cup of water, since Alex clearly wasn’t in a condition to speak.

They talked some more, atr the rest of his food, even though Alexander swore not to ever try anything spicy again. Aaron subconsciously moved closer to Alex, listening to another case, another point of view or just next story from Hamilton’s life, which was an interesting one. He laughed at the mentions of Alexander’s friends and their behaviour. He heard their names before but fortunately didn’t know them particularly well.

“And Laf didn’t think naming a ficus was an important issue.”

“When you were meant to be working? Probably not the best idea.”

“So you’re against me too? It was your idea!”

“Fair. What did you name him, then?”

“Philip. Philip Hamilton, since he’s a part of the family now. You can be a godfather if you want.”

“What an honour.”

About an hour later they were arguing who should pay for the dinner. Hamilton had a point, saying that he asked Aaron out in the first place but then Aaron picked a restaurant. Neither of them wanted to split the bill. In the end it was Hamilton who paid, only because Aaron decided to go to the bathroom and leave Alex alone for two minutes.

“Next time I’m paying,” he announced.

“Next time,” Alex agreed with a grin.

Everything was great. Aaron was honestly surprised the dinner went so smoothly. He liked Alexander more and more with every passing minute. It was about to turn ridiculous. He usually kept a lot of distance between himself and his dates at the beginning. He didn’t know Alex for that long, barely a couple of days, but pushing him away seemed impossible. Aaron didn’t want to do it. He wanted to have Alex all to himself, no matter how complicated the situation he got himself into was.

Universe was probably playing a trick on him, since just after the thought entered his mind he saw a familiar face amongst the people. Two of them even.

As they were about to step out of the restaurant, a man dressed in a bright red suit waved at them. Right beside him was another man, this one dressed far less extravagantly, although he had a bright smile and an utterly happy look directed at the first one.

George Frederick and Samuel Seabury.

Just the people Aaron desperately didn’t want to see tonight. Of course George was the one to notice them. He never particularly enjoyed Aaron’s company but an idea of harassing the man in public would be just a thing he’d deem interesting and worthwhile.

“Burr, sir!”

There was no way out. Aaron began seriously panicking as Alexander was about to turn around and see George. It was too soon. Aaron would tell Alex the truth but not now, he didn’t want to ruin everything just yet.

They were standing by the door. If it wasn’t for George, they’d probably be out of the restaurant already. Aaron did the only stupid thing he could think of. In an impulse he grabbed Alexander by the collar of his shirt crashed their mouths together in a kiss.

He was too stressed out to actually process the whole thing but soon Alexander was kissing him back and it was all that mattered at the moment. Aaron took the opportunity to escape the restaurant, pushing the door with his free hand and dragging Alexander along.

Hamilton tasted like a mix of spiciness and jasmine green tea. It wasn’t a taste he’d associate with Alex at all but he wouldn’t deny enjoying it. Alexander’s hands found their way around Aaron’s waist, while Aaron played with Alex’s hair.

It took them a while to step back. Surprisingly, Aaron came to his senses and did that before things would start getting out of hand. First thing he did after backing away was looking around for George but thankfully he wasn’t there. Samuel must’ve helped with that. He was always the one to convince George to act properly when no one else could.

When it was time to look back at Alexander, Aaron’s confidence seemed to disappear.

Shit.

He really shouldn’t do that, should he? He dropped his gaze, staring stubbornly at his shoes. So what now? Alex probably hated him already. If Aaron didn’t violate any boundaries before, he most likely did now. He should apologise. Yes. That was a way to start before Hamilton could punch him in the face and leave.

“I’m sorry,” Aaron mumbled. “I couldn’t,” he added but once again he had to rethink what he was about to say. He couldn’t obviously say the truth. “Help myself?” Uh, it sounded more like a question. “You just… Look so beautiful. I’m sorry if I did something you weren’t comfortable with.”

It certainly wasn’t a lie. Hamilton did look beautiful all night. He was stunning and Aaron was really concerned that his actions could be too much. He was about to open his mouth to say how sorry he was once again but Alex stopped him.

“Don’t apologise.”

“But I…”

“You didn’t make me uncomfortable,” he assured Aaron. Alex had this lazy, wide smile on his face, which made Aaron’s worries go away. “I enjoyed the kiss.” He leant in once again and murmured. “Wouldn’t mind another one.”

So they kissed once again. And again. Aaron tried to stay focussed on controlling the situation but it was really hard with Alexander’s lips on his. Nonetheless, he managed to say:

“We should probably get going.”

They were still standing by the restaurant. Even if Aaron wasn’t nervous about George inside, he could be concerned about showing affection publicly. It wasn’t so bad of an excuse.

“You’re right,” Alex answered and pressed his lips to Aaron’s once again. Then he stepped back. He took Aaron’s hand in his own and squeezed it. “Let’s go.”

They walked back to the car, holding hands and laughing. Aaron felt as if he was intoxicated. Every time his sight landed on Alex, he had trouble looking away. How come that the man he only knew a couple of days already had this kind of impact on him?

He decided not to answer that question just yet. Instead, he squeezed Alexander’s hand a little harder and laughed at the man’s joke, enjoying the moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter made me hungry.
> 
> But seriously, sorry about leaving y'all for so long with no update. School responsibilities and sleep deprivation got me. But I'm back now! What do you think about the newest chapter? (and nasty liar Aaron)  
> There'll be TJeffs & JMads appearing sometime soon, so there's that to look forward to. No spoilers beyond that.


	7. Thursday, Part One

Aaron woke up with a slight headache, took some aspirin and began his daily routine. It was obviously a lot different than his usual behaviour before work, unsurprisingly far less stressful. He didn’t have to hurry anywhere, prepare for meetings and trails. He just ate his breakfast, drinking coffee casually as he was reading a newspaper.

It was really calming – the ability to turn off. He didn’t even check his phone for messages or missed calls. His mind started wandering to Hamilton after reading one particular article, guessing what would the man have to say about a certain issue.

He smiled absently, imagining the way Hamilton’s hands moved, his eyes gleaming with passion as he stated his own opinions. Aaron was far too fond of that, given his normal attitude towards expressing too much emotions. But he managed to get a grip of himself just in time to finish his coffee and go to the shop for another day of selling flowers.

Later, when he sat behind the counter with nothing better to do, he pulled out his phone. He didn’t expect anybody to miss him since yesterday’s evening, especially given that he was meant to be off of work for another couple of days. Sally was busy, his colleagues had no purpose of calling him and Hamilton didn’t ask for his number, which was strange but Aaron appreciated it. At least he wasn’t afraid of the man googling his number and finding out his real profession.

Okay, he was a bit paranoid. Also apparently wrong about his colleagues.

_George: Didn’t know you found yourself a new plaything._

_George: You have to tell me all about it._

_George: Also, it was rude to run away like that._

Aaron sighed. Not only he’d have to deal with George’s usual, childlike behaviour. Now he had to make him forget about the thing he saw too, because George wasn’t the type of person to give up on something once he took interest in it. Sam Seabury was a living example of that. He hated George at the beginning but the man didn’t stop courting him until they became a couple.

And speaking of Seabury…

_Sam: You owe me for dragging George away. Coffee will do. The good stuff!!_

Which was why Aaron actually liked Sam. The man was quite alright, even though he had this weird sort of admiration towards George, which appeared after he stopped hating the man. But he was also pretty objective and nice to people.

Even if he forced Aaron to get him some weird, complicated starbucks coffee, but that was beside the point.

_Angelica: Are you dead? I haven’t hear from you in a while._

_Angelica: Anyway, I’m organizing a party on Sunday. Care to join us?_

Aaron grimaced. He hated those parties and wanted to refuse right away, but decided to check the rest of the messages first.

_James: Are you free for lunch? Thomas and I wish to discuss something with you. Sorry for disturbing you leave of absence. It’s urgent._

_Thomas: Don’t ignore Jemmy._

_Thomas: If you’re not out of country nursing a sick grandma then you have no excuse._

_Thomas: Or you know what? Fuck the grandma. We need to talk._

_James: Sorry for Thomas. Although we do need to talk._

Burr was almost sure they wrote these texts next to each other, while Thomas was complaining about him or the rest of the world. James had a habit of writing texts the same way he wrote important documents but at least he didn’t have as poor manners as Thomas.

First person he decided to answer was James. He didn’t bother writing back to Thomas. They lived together anyway and James was far easier to talk to.

_Aaron: If it’s that urgent. 1 AM?_

The next text appeared in a matter of seconds.

_James: Wonderful._

They decided on a place together and Aaron began wondering what was so important he had to meet them. But there was no use in pointless guessing.

Answering Angelica was simple.

_Aaron: Not dead. Not coming._

_Angelica: If you don’t come, a certain footage of you singing Taylor Swift songs will leak to the internet._

_Aaron: It is blackmail, Angie._

_Angelica: ;)_

_Angelica: See you at the party._

_Angelica: Dress nicely._

_Aaron: Nope. Not coming._

He tossed his phone away.

So he had to deal with blackmail, a possible end of the world (or whatever made James and Thomas so concerned), George’s nosiness and lack of any way to contact Hamilton, which he was suddenly very upset about. At the same time his headache began to increase.

He could just leave his phone at home. Goddamnit.

  


*

  


“A merger?” Aaron asked with his brows furrowed, staring at the two man in front of him.

Thomas nodded, while James explained calmly:

“Washington basically owns the loyalty of most of the companies on the South and Adams knows it. Washington wants to extend his reach to Great Britain, which Adams has to offer since he partnered up with Frederick. It’s a smart move, they’ll be a lot more powerful after the merger. I’m surprised we haven’t seen this coming sooner.”

James said we as he meant himself, second guessing his abilities like usual. Thomas put his hand on the man’s shoulder in a reassuring way.

“We couldn’t have predicted it. They’re _rivals_. They hate each other.”

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, Thomas,” James answered thoughtfully.

“Please, Washington isn’t a manipulative bastard.”

“He isn’t stupid either.”

Aaron sighed.

“How do you know about this? It’s not a public information or it’d in the papers by now.”

“I’m in charge of Washington’s relations with other companies,” Thomas explained in his usual, cocky manner. “He told me yesterday, providing informations as far as ‘I already prepared the documents, just thought you should know’ goes.”

“Great. So what are we looking at?” Logistics were the only thing Aaron could focus on at this point. The fact that Adams and George kept their mouths shut – it wasn’t strange at all. Adams was simply ignorant. Frederick liked to be sneaky with all of his plans and changes. Seabury was most likely the only one, who knew about it besides the main representatives of the parties involved. But Washington? Aaron didn’t know the man personally but he seemed like the kind of person to respect his employees enough to actually warn them about a merger. “Job losses?”

James nodded.

“Most likely.”

“Any debts?”

Thomas grimaced.

“Didn’t take you long to figure that out.”

“Washington has rather impressive amount of debts since he started his company from a scratch by himself,” James said. He stopped for a second to cough but resumed almost immediately. “Which is why he probably intended to keep this merger a secret. Adams is getting way more out of this deal but if we consider Frederick giving Washington enough money to pay off his debts, stakes are levelled out. For Frederick it won’t be too big of a deal, he owns several really successful, international companies and has shares in many others.”

“Obviously,” Thomas took over. James looked quite pleased he didn’t have to do the talking for much longer. “We don’t want this merger to happen. I know you technically work for Adams but it’ll be better for you if it fails, trust me, the world doesn’t need Adams, Frederick _and_ Washington partnering up.” He seemed outraged by only mentioning the perspective. “Of course it wouldn’t be a problem if only Hamilton figured out his debt plan sooner. He’s Washington’s fucking right hand man and instead of helping him with the company he runs off to take pro bono cases and help humanity. Pathetic.”

That was exactly when Aaron realised he was talking about the same company Alexander worked in. Theoretically, he knew Hamilton worked for Washington, it was obvious, they spoke about it quite bit. But when he debated on the future of his carer and a possible merger, he had to distance the thoughts of Alex from himself for a while.

Apparently not for long.

If Adams was actually going to make sure the merger happens, Aaron couldn’t wait to tell Alexander the truth. They’d be working together in a matter of months, maybe even weeks. It was ridiculous Alexander didn’t actually meet him sooner and in the near future it would be impossible for them to remain strangers at work.

Aaron found himself really concerned about the relationship he had, he could have, with Hamilton. The man was so much more than Aaron thought he was. All of the information about the companies began overpower Burr’s efforts to remain, while he was also trying to figure out how to confess his lie to Alex. All he could say was:

“Wait.”

Thomas raised an eyebrow at him.

“What? You know Hamilton, right? This idiot running after Washington. He clearly doesn’t know anything about it or he’d throw a tantrum or something. He hates Adams.”

Aaron took a deep breath. Better not to let the panic overwhelm him.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said coldly.

“Oh, you wound me, Burr,” Thomas replied dramatically.

“Why are you telling me this, what do you expect me to do?”

“So you mean gossiping over lunch isn’t a good enough of an excuse? I thought you appreciate a break from nursing your sick grandma.”

“I’m not nursing anybody, Jefferson.”

James coughed, more likely out of manner than an actual sickness. It did however drew the other’s attention. Thomas instantly looked a bit concerned, while Aaron waited for an actual answer instead of Thomas’s earlier mockery.

“We want find a way to stop the merger,” Madison stated. “The most convenient trick would be to find a problem within one of the companies, problem which would most likely go away after some time, so neither of them has to deal with some actual issues. But serious enough for the other to give up on the merger. Thomas looks into Washington, Lee plans on talking with Adams. The next step is talking to the employees. The fastest way to do this would be on the event Angelica Schuyler organises on Sunday. It’s convenient, since it’s strictly for Washington’s and Adams’s workers, however I doubt Angelica herself knows about the merger.”

Thomas shook his head.

“She doesn’t. I suggested the party, all she wants to do is introduce people to each other and such.”

“Exactly.”

“We expect you to show up,” Jefferson informed Aaron.

“If it doesn’t disturb your leave of absence,” James added politely.

“If it does, show up anyway.”

“Thomas…” James looked at his boyfriend disapprovingly.

“What? That’s the whole point of this conversation!”

Aaron hid his face in his hands. Sunday. Three days until he’d have to dwell on people’s problems to stop the merger. Three days during which he would have to tell Hamilton who he really was. How was he supposed to manage these responsibilities, run the damned flower shop, which caused all of his problems in the first place, and on top of all the stress stay emotionally stable?

“I should go.” He took another breath and looked up. “But I will show up at the party.”

“We appreciate it.” James smiled.

Thomas huffed and said in a dismissive way, “yeah, sure.” But soon his face was lightened up by a smirk, a devious one.

“But you shouldn’t go so soon. I didn’t have the time to ask you about your new boy toy. George said you two looked adorable yesterday.”

Aaron resisted the urge to whine pathetically. He wasn’t ready for that given everything, which was going on in his life right now. Leaving a neutral expression was a logical thing to do but he did also roll his eyes, just to seem like he didn’t actually give a damn. Which was another lie.

“Really, Jefferson?”

“What? Rumour travels fast. George said you took him to a fancy sushi place and made out with him in the middle of the restaurant. Doesn’t sound like you. He has to be hot.”

What did sound like him after all of this? Burr used to think he wasn’t a liar. It turned out to be a wrong assumption, under these circumstances he lied all the time. He was also ready to make some people miserable to stop the merger but he could at least excuse that by minding the well being of his company. The first issue though, it didn’t go away that easily.

Aaron grabbed his bag and smiled at James before turning to Thomas once again.

“I’m not talking to you about it,” he informed the man before standing up. “See you at the party.”

“Come on, I’m just trying to be a good friend!”

“Goodbye!”

  


*

  


When he returned to the shop he found a piece of paper folded in half left for him at the door. It was covered with fancy handwriting he recognised as Hamilton’s, not only because of the signature but also the fact that the man’s personality seemed to be just as brilliant and chaotic as the handwriting.

Aaron flipped the side with his name on it and started reading the note.

_I came by to take you out for lunch but you weren’t here and then I realised I don’t have your number. Insane, right? Here’s mine, text me. I’m having an awful time at work and seeing you would brighten up my day._

There was a phone number right under the text. Hamilton drew a small heart right next to it too. It wasn’t something Burr was used to and he didn’t think he’d like this type of behaviour but he found himself appreciating the gesture. It was sweet.

He picked up his phone and ignored earlier concerns about Hamilton googling his number. If Alex was going to find out anyway…

_Aaron: I’m having a_ _horrible_ _day too. How about we’ll_ _go_ _to my place, order some take out and watch a shitty 80s film?_

He hesitated before hitting a send button. The reply came after a couple of minutes.

_Alex: I’d love that :)_

_Aaron: <3_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, did you notice I have no knowledge whatsoever about business management and mergers? Or was my research sufficient?
> 
> Aaron is now much more Stressed Out™ than he was but next chapter is another cute date, so no worries yet <3

**Author's Note:**

> Leave me a comment to tell me, what you think :D  
> 


End file.
